Garment and method of making it

ABSTRACT

A blank for manufacture of a knitted sleeve garment comprises front and rear upper body portions each constituted by a piece of flat fabric and having side edges joined, on the knitting machine, to shoulder regions of the sleeves, the said shoulder regions having extensions arranged to be joined to upper edges of the said front and rear upper body portions. A method of knitting such a blank is also described.

United States Patent Betts et al. 1451 May 23, 1972 1 GARIVIENT ANDMETHOD OF MAKING References Cited IT UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 Inventors:Max Betts, Coventry; Frmk Robinson, 2,521,786 9/1950 Granou........66/176 x Borrowash. both f ngl n 2,877,635 3/1959 Powell ..66/653,195,147 7/1965 Yamamura ....66/176 UX [73] Assgnee' cmmulds England3,474,643 10/1969 Robinson et a1. ..66/176 x [22] Filed: June 5, 19703,561,000 2/1971 Wignall ..66/176 [2]] Appl' 43672 PrimaryExaminerRona1d Feldbaum Attorney-Davis, Hoxie, Faithful] & Hapgood 30Forei n A lication Priori Data I 1 g pp W [57] ABSTRACT June 18, 1969Great Britain ..30,866/69 A blank for manufacture of a knitted sleevegarment com- 52 us. c1 ..66/176 prises and "PPer each nstiwted by [51]Int CL" 7/10 A4lb9/O6 a piece of flat fabric and having side edgesjoined, on the [58] Field of Search 66/171 175 189 64 knitting machine,to shoulder regions of the sleeves, the said l I I shoulder regionshaving extensions arranged to be joined to upper edges of the said frontand rear upper body portions. A method of knitting such a blank is alsodescribed.

10 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PAIENTEDMAY 23 m2.

SHLH 1 UP vI -r" v 1 v Q Lt Inventors MAX WILLIAM BETTS FRANK ROBINSON aBy DAVIS, HOXIE, FAI'I'HFULL & HAPGOOD Attorne s Pmimrznmeam- 36641561sum 2 OF 5 lnvenlors MAX WILLIAM BETTS FRANK ROBINSON DAVIS, HOXIE,FAI'IHFULL & HAPGOOD Allorrleys PATEMTEUMzamz $664,156

Inventors MAX WILLIAM BETTS FRANK ROBINSON DAVIS, FAITHFULL & HAPGOODAttorne PATENTEDMM23|972 3,564,156

sum u 0F 5 Inventors MAX WILLIAM BETTS FRANK ROBINSON DAVIS, HOXIE,FAITHFULL & HAPGOOD Attorne GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING IT Thisinvention relates to knitted garments and to methods of knitting blanksfor such garments. Garments according to the invention can be knitted ona flat bar knitting machine having at least one pair of opposed needlebeds, means for operating the needles independently of one another andyarn carriers to supply yarn for the production of knitted loops on theneedles.

Machines of this kind are well known and details of such machines and ofthe methods of programming their needles and yarn carriers will,therefore, not be described at length in this specification. As anexample of a flat V-bed knitting machine which incorporates needles andmeans of operating them so that stitches can be transferred from needlesof one bed to needles of another bed, the machine described in BritishPat. No. l,048,322 may be referred to. As an example of such a machinewhich incorporates auxiliary beds movable 7 relative to the main beds ofthe machine, the machine described in British Pat. No. 99l,943 may bereferred to. British Pat. Nos. 448,795, 846,636 and 910,885 describetransfer elements for use in such machines for shifting loops betweenneedles and also describe mechanisms for operating the transferelements.

However, circular knitting machines are known having needles arranged intwo opposed needles beds and operable in a manner analogous to flatV-bed knitting machines. The invention can also be carried out on suchmachines.

The methods normally employed for making gannents involve a considerableamount of making up and an object of this invention is to provideknitted garments and methods of making them which involve considerablyless making up than conventional garments and methods of making them.

A blank for the manufacture of a knitted sleeved garment according tothe invention comprises front and rear upper body portions eachconstituted by a piece of flat fabric and having side edges joined, onthe knitting machine, to shoulder regions of the sleeves, the saidshoulder regions having extensions arranged to be joined to upper edgesof the said front and rear upper body portions.

A method according to the invention of machine knitting a blank for asleeved garment includes knitting front and rear upper body portions ofthe garment each as a separate piece of flat fabric and joining the sideedges of these portions, on the machine, to shoulder regions of thesleeves and knitting extensions of the said shoulder regions in such away that they are arranged for joining to upper edges of the said frontand rear upper body portions.

The joining of the shoulder regions of the sleeves to the side edges ofthe front and rear upper body portions can be carried out by firstknitting those parts of the shoulder regions to be joined to the sideedges and subsequently knitting the front and rear upper body portionsas flat pieces of fabric and joining these portions by knitting them, asthey are formed, to the shoulder regions, that is by intermeshingstitches of the front and rear upper body portions with stitches of theshoulder regions. The shoulder regions and the front and rear upper bodyportions then constitutes a single piece of knitting.

The joining of the extensions of the shoulder regions to the upper edgesof the front and rear upper body portions can be carried out as theextensions are formed by knitting them onto these upper edges, that isby intermeshing stitches of the extensions as they are formed withstitches at the upper edges of the body portions.

In knitting a garment according to the invention on aflat bed knittingmachine, the extensions are preferably knitted on auxiliary needle bedsmovable longitudinally of the main beds and each extension can beknitted as a series of U-shaped courses, each end of each of thesecourses being joined on the machine to the end of a wale of one of theupper body portions.

The term course" is used generally in the knitting art and in thisspecification to mean a row of loops in the fabric fonned in thedirection along an array of needles. A wale is a column of loopscomprising loops in successive courses.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 10show different garment blanks according to the invention,

FIGS. 4 to 7 are a series of diagrammatic representations of stages inthe knitting of a garment blank according to the invention on a flatV-bed knitting machine with opposed needle beds, and

FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrammatic representations of two stages in theknitting of a garment blank according to the invention on a flat V-bedknitting machine with opposed needle beds and provided with stitchtransfer elements.

The garment blanks shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are advantageously knittedon a flat V-bed knitting machine having, in addition to the main needlebeds, two pairs of auxiliary beds containing arrays of needles, theauxiliary beds being movable longitudinally of the main beds of themachine. A machine of this general kind is described in British Pat. No.991,943 and a machine having auxiliary beds mounted and operated in themanner described in that specification can be used in carrying out thepresent invention. In addition, the machine is advantageously equipped,in place of a normal take-down mechanism which is arranged to pullfabric evenly from the needles across the whole width of the machine,with hold down elements as described in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No.874,938 of M.W. Betts et a1. filed on Nov. 7, 1969. Such hold downelements are carried on a single member which is so mounted that it canbe moved to bring the two hold-down elements alternately into anoperative position in which the operative elements extends beneath theactive needles of the opposed arrays of latch needles of the knittingmachine, the said member being arranged to carry the hold-down elementsalong the arrays of needles in synchronism with the actuation of theneedles and the operative hold-down element being arranged to hold downthe knitting so that opened latches move up through the loops on theneedles as the needles rise during knitting and are closed by the loopsas the needles descent.

The garment blank shown in FIG. 1 comprises a tubular body portion 5with a front upper body portion 6 and a corresponding rear upper bodyportion, the two upper body positions being knitted as flat pieces offabric each on one of the two opposed needle beds of a that V-bedknitting machine. Two tubular sleeves 7 and 8 also knitted on themachine have shoulder regions 9 and 10, respectively. The shoulderregions are joined to side edges of the upper body portions,the twojoins 13 and 14 between these regions and the body portion-6 being shownin FIG. 1. The direction of the wales in sleeve 7 is indicated by thelines 15. The direction of the wales in the body portions 6 is indicatedby the lines 16.Courses run in each case perpendicular to the wales andthus the joining of the shoulder regions of the sleeves to the upperbody portions involves joining the ends of wales of the shoulder regionswith the ends of courses of the body portions.

An extension is formed on the shoulder region of each sleeve, eachextension having two edges each joined on the machine to an upper edgeof an upper body portion of the garment. The two extensions aredesignated by the numerals l7 and 18 in FIG. 1. Each comprises a seriesof U-shaped courses the wales of which are extensions of wales of theshoulder region of the associated sleeve. Each end of each U-shapedcourse is joined to an end of a wale of a body portion of the garment.

The garment blank, which is shown in FIG. 1 before a neck opening hasbeen cut out, is of the saddle shoulder type. In the present examplemock rib borders 2] are formed at the free ends of the body and sleevesin known manner.

The sleeve 8 shown in chain lines in FIG. 1 illustrates a stage in themethod of knitting the garment, which method will now be described withreference to FIGS. 4 to 7.

The methods of knitting the two sleeves 7 and 8 and the methods ofjoining them to the body portions are identical and only the joining ofthe sleeve 8 to the body will be described. Two auxiliary needle beds 24and 25 only of the knitting machine used to knit the blank are shown inFIGS. 4 to 7. These auxiliary beds 24 and 25 are those used to knit thesleeve 8.

The tubular portion 5 of the garment body and the tubular portions ofthe sleeves are first knitted, in the direction from waist and cuff,respectively, the body portion on the main needle beds of the machineindicated at 22 and 23 in FIGS. 4 to 7 and the sleeves on pairs ofauxiliary beds movable longitudinally with respect to the main beds,auxiliary beds 24 and 25 being used to knit the sleeve 8.

At the stage reached in FIG. 4, the tubular body portion 5 and thetubular portion of the sleeve 8 are completed and hang from the beds ofthe machine, the body portion 5 as shown in FIG. 1 in full lines and thesleeve 8 as shown in chain lines.

For convenience of illustration, in the diagrammatic representations ofFIGS. 4 to 7 and8 and 9, the number of stitches shown is less than wouldbe present in an actual garment. Thus in FIG. 4, the front and rear ofthe body 5 are shown as having a width of only seven stitches and thesleeve 8 is shown as having a width of only four stitches, although inpractice many more stitches would be used.

The knitting of the front upper body portion 6 and the correspondingrear upper body portion as flat pieces of fabric using yarn fromseparate yarn carriers is now begun and these body portions are joinedto the sleeves. FIG. 5 shows four successive stages in the formation ofa vertical join 14 between a side edge of the body and a shoulder regionof the sleeve 8. Only the front main needle bed 23 and the frontauxiliary bed 25 are shown. In the join 14, end stitches of courses ofthe body portion 6 are joined to end stitches of wales of the sleeve Thecourses of the portion 6 extend across the front of the garmentperpendicular to the lines of the wales 16 in FIG. 1. The courses of therear upper body portion also extend across the garment.

The join 14 is produced by knitting a course of the body portion 6 onneedles of the front main bed 23, moving the auxiliary bed 25 inwardlyof the main bed 23, and transferring the sleeve loop 28 onto the sameneedle as the body loop 29. (The inward movement of the auxiliary bed 25is not shown in FIGS. 4 to 7). A further course of the body portion 6 isthen knitted on the main bed 23 and a single loop 31 of this course isdrawn through the two loops 28 and 29. Loop 30 is then transferred tothe needle holding the loop 31 and a further course of the body portion6 is knitted. Subsequently, loop 32 of the sleeve is transferred to hesame needle as loop 33 of the portion 6 and loop 34 of the sleeve istransferred to the same needle as loop 35 of the portion 6 and so on. Inthis way, as successive courses of the body portion 6 and thecorresponding rear portion of the body are knitted, their ends stitchesare joined by intermeshing to stitches at the ends of wales of theshoulder regions.

The join I4 and the corresponding sleeve-to-body join at the rear of thegarment and the corresponding joins for the sleeve 7 can be formedsimultaneously and when these joins have been completed, the knitting ofthe extensions 17 and 18 of the shoulder regions of the sleeves can bestarted. If these extensions are to be continued to the center of thegarment, as shown in FIG. I, it will normally be necessary to knit theextensions successively to avoid clashing of the two pairs of auxiliarybeds at the center region of the main beds.

After the vertical sleeve-to-body joins (such as join 14) have beencompleted, the auxiliary beds 24 and 25 will each still carry a smallnumber of stitches of the sleeve 8 corresponding to the desired width Wof the extension 18 from the course at the upper edge 38 of the bodyportion 6 to the top of the garment. (This is the vertical height of theextension in FIG. 1). In FIG. 6, three stitches are shown on eachauxiliary bed. To form the extension 18, a series of U-shaped courses isknitted on the auxiliary beds 24 and 25 using a single yarn carrier andafter each U-shaped course has been formed, in order to join the sleeveextension to the upper edges of the front and rear upper body portions,the outermost stitches of the front and rear upper body portions aretransferred to the needles carrying the innermost end stitches of theU-shaped course. In FIG. 6, the path 39 of the yarn carrier in formingone U-shaped course of extension 18 is indicated together with thesubsequent transfer of end stitches 40 and 41 of the upper body portionsto the needles 42 and 43 of auxiliary beds 24 and 25 which are carryingthe innermost end loops of the U-shaped course. FIG. 7 shows the nextreciprocation of the yarn carrier to form the next U-shaped course andthe transfer of the adjacent pair of stitches 46, 47 of the body to theneedles 42 and 43. In this way, U-shaped courses are formed and arejoined by intermeshing of stitches to end stitches of wales of the frontand rear upper body portions. Theauxiliary beds 24 and 25 are movedinwardly until the point 48 (FIG. 1) is reached and the knitting of theextension 18 has been completed. The fabric is then pressed off theneedles of beds 24 and 25, beds 24 and 25 are withdrawn and theextension 17 is knitted and joined to the body in the same manner asextension 18. Alternatively, the beds 24 and 25 may be moved outwardlyat the same time as the auxiliary beds on which the extension 17 isknitted are moved inwardly.

Alternatively, the extensions 17 and 18 can be knitted simultaneously,clashing of the two pairs of auxiliary beds being avoided bytransferring the stitches of the U-shaped courses inwardly to otherneedles of the same beds, the beds being moved outwardly to maintainthese stitches in the same positions relative to the main beds of themachine. Needles capable of transferring stitches and methods ofoperating such needles are described in British Pat. No. 1,048,322previously mentioned. Using mechanism as described in thatspecification, since transfer needles can only transfer stitches toneedles in an opposite bed, it is necessary in order to transfer loopsbetween adjacent needles of the same bed to carry out two transferoperations, first transferring a loop to a needle in an opposite bed andthen transferring the loop back to a needle of the first bed adjacentthe needle which originally held the loop.

As an alternative to using a machine having transfer needles, themachine can be equipped with transfer elements capable of picking uploops from needles, shifting them along a needle bed and depositing themon different needles of the same or a different bed. Such elements andmeans for operating them are described, for example, in British Pat.Nos. 910,885, 846,636 and 448,795. An example of a knitting procedureemploying transfer stitches is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 in which thestitches carried on the needles of each of the beds 24, 25 are all movedinwardly by one needle pitch (FIG. 8) and the beds 24, 25 are movedoutwardly by one needle pitch to the positions shown in FIG. 9. The beds24 and 25 are subsequently moved inwardly on knitting further U- shapedcourses.

When the garment blank is removed from the knitting machine, it is onlynecessary to cut out and finish the neck opening as desired.

The transfer of stitches can be effected, for example, by means oftransfer needles or by transfer points or elements as mentioned above.The exact order of the operations of forming courses, transferringstitches and shogging the auxiliary beds in forming the vertical andhorizontal joins is susceptible of a number of variations. For example,in joining the U- shaped courses to the body, transfer of a body stitchto a needle carrying one end stitch of the U-sh'aped course may beeffected after only half the course has been knitted. The course willthen be completed before transfer of a body stitch to the needlecarrying the other end stitch of the course is effected.

Instead of joining the sleeve extensions to the upper edges of the frontand rear upper body portions on the machine, the sleeve extensions canbe knitted without joining them to the upper body portions during theknitting process and can then be joined to these portions after removalof the blank from the knitting machine. This joining operation can becarried out, for example, by seaming or linking.

FIG. 2 illustrates two further garments knitted according to theinvention. In both garments the body portion 5 is first knitted. n theright-hand side of FIG. 2, the front and rear upper body portions (thefront portion 6 is shown) are then knitted as flat pieces of fabric andare joined to the sleeves as in the garment of FIG. 1, but the initialcourses 6a of these portions are made successively shorter, thus forminga join 14 with the shoulder region of the sleeves, the join 14 beinginclined to the vertical direction of the body. The courses of the upperbody portions knitted subsequently to the courses 6a are all of the samelength as in the garment of FIG. 1, and thus a vertical join 14 isformed.

In the garment illustrated on the left-hand side of FIG. 2, the firststage of forming the sleeve-to-body join comprises knitting a number ofU-shaped courses 50 around the whole of the sleeve and joining the endsof these U-shaped courses to the stitches at the ends of wales in theupper edge of the tubular body portion to form a horizontal join 51. Theupper body portions are then knitted as flat pieces of fabric and arejoined to the ends of the wales of the sleeves to form a vertical join14. Finally sleeve extensions, such as extension 17, are knitted and arejoined to the upper edges, such as edge 38, of the body by horizontaljoins.

In the garment shown in FIG. 3, the body portion 5 is knitted as a tube,and upper body portions, such as the front portion 6, are knitted asflat pieces of fabric but are progressively narrowed throughout thewhole of their height. The shoulder regions of the sleeves are knittedby forming U- shaped courses which are made successively shorter,needles being taken out of action successively from the inner ends ofthe shoulder regions. When the shoulder regions have been completed,they are joined to the side edges of the upper body panels in the mannerdescribed above,to form inclined sleeveto-body joins l4". Sleeveextensions 17 and 18 are knitted as U-shaped courses and are joined tothe upper edges 38 of the body by horizontal joins as described above.In the garment blank shown in FIG. 10, the body portion 5 is knitted asa tube and front and rear upper body portions are knitted as flat piecesof fabric, the front upper body portion 6 being shown in FIG. 10. Theupper body portions are progressively narrowed throughout the whole oftheir height to provide inclined side edges 54a and 54b for theformation of inclined sleeve-to-body joins.

The sleeves, shoulder regions of the sleeves, and sleeve extensions areall knitted on a single pair of auxiliary beds of the knitting machine.The sleeve 7 is knitted first as a tube on a pair of auxiliary beds upto the course of knitting indicated by the broken line 55. A shoulderregion 9 of the sleeve is thereafter knitted by forming a series ofU-shaped courses on the needles of the auxiliary beds, as described withreference to FIGS. 6 and 7, and the ends of these courses are joined tostitches lying in the side edges 54a of the front and rear upper bodyportions, also as described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. Knitting isthen continued into the sleeve extension 17 which is also formed byknitting U-shaped courses on the auxiliary beds. The stitches at theends of these courses are joined to stitches at the ends of wales of thecentral region 56 of the upper edges of the front and rear upper bodyportions.

The sleeve extension 18 is next knitted and joined to the front and rearupper body portions in the same way as the extension 17 and knitting iscontinued into the shoulder region which is knitted in the same way asthe region 9 and joined to stitches lying in the side edges 54b of theupper body portions. Finally the sleeve 8 is knitted in tubular fonn.The sleeves 7 and 8 may be long or short.

The wales of the sleeve 7, the shoulder region 9, sleeve extensions 17and 18, the shoulder region 10, and the sleeve 8 are continuous so thatthese parts are all integral with one another.

When the blank has been pressed off the machine, the neck opening is cutout and trimmed.

What is claimed is: 1. A blank for the manufacture of a knitted sleevedgarment comprising tubular sleeves terminating in shoulder regions, atubular lower body portion, front and rear upper body portionscomprising pieces of flat fabric having upper and side edges, said sideedges being integrally joined by knitted stitches to the shoulderregions of said sleeves, and sleeve extensions running from the shoulderregions of said sleeves and positioned for joining to the upper edges ofsaid upper body portions.

2. The blank claimed in claim 1 wherein the shoulder regions are joinedto the front and rear body portions by intermeshed stitches.

3. The blank claimed in claim 1 wherein the sleeve extensions are joinedto the upper edges of the front and rear body portions by intermeshedstitches.

4. A blank as claimed in claim 3, wherein at least part of each sideedge of the front and rear upper body portions is inclined to thevertical direction of the body.

5. A blank as claimed in claim 4, wherein the whole of each side edge ofthe front and rear upper body portions is inclined to the verticaldirection of the body and the shoulder regions as well as the sleeveextensions comprise U-shaped courses of knitting.

6. A method of machine knitting a blank for a sleeved garment whichcomprises knitting tubular sleeve members terminating in shoulderregions, knitting upper front and rear body portions as flat pieces offabric having side and upper edges, transferring stitches between aportion of the shoulder regions of said sleeves and the side edges ofsaid front and rear body portions to join said shoulder regions to saidbody portions and knitting extensions of the'portions of said shoulderregions not joined to said body portions for joining to the upper edgesof said body portions.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 including knitting the parts of theshoulder regions to be joined to the side edges of the front and rearupper body portions and subsequently knitting the front and rear upperbody portions as flat pieces of fabric and joining these portions byintermeshing stitches of these portions as they are formed with stitchesof the shoulder regions.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, including the step of joining theextensions of the shoulder regions to the front and rear upper bodyportions by intermeshing stitches of the extensions, as they are formed,with stitches at the upper edges of the body portions.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, including the step of knitting eachextension as a series of U-shaped courses, each end of each of thesecourses being joined to the end of a wale of one of the upper bodyportions.

10. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least part of each of thesaid front and rear upper body panels is shaped by knitting eachsuccessive course of the said part shorter than the preceding course.

1. A blank for the manufacture of a knitted sleeved garment comprisingtubular sleeves terminating in shoulder regions, a tubular lower bodyportion, front and rear upper body portions comprising pieces of flatfabric having upper and side edges, said side edges being integrallyjoined by knitted stitches to the shoulder regions of said sleeves, andsleeve extensions running from the shoulder regions of said sleeves andpositioned for joining to the upper edges of said upper body portions.2. The blank claimed in claim 1 wherein the shoulder regions are joinedto the front and rear body portions by intermeshed stitches.
 3. Theblank claimed in claim 1 wherein the sleeve extensions are joined to theupper edges of the front and rear body portions by intermeshed stitches.4. A blank as claimed in claim 3, wherein at least part of each sideedge of the front and rear upper body portions is inclined to thevertical direction of the body.
 5. A blank as claimed in claim 4,wherein the whole of each side edge of the front and rear upper bodyportions is inclined to the vertical direction of the body and theshoulder regions as well as the sleeve extensions comprise U-shapedcourses of knitting.
 6. A method of machine knitting a blank for asleeved garment which comprises knitting tubular sleeve membersterminating in shoulder regions, knitting upper front and rear bodyportions as flat pieces of fabric having side and upper edges,transferring stitches between a portion of the shoulder regions of saidsleeves and the side edges of said front and rear body portions to joinsaid shoulder regions to said body portions and knitting extensions ofthe portions of said shoulder regions not joined to said bodY portionsfor joining to the upper edges of said body portions.
 7. A method asclaimed in claim 6 including knitting the parts of the shoulder regionsto be joined to the side edges of the front and rear upper body portionsand subsequently knitting the front and rear upper body portions as flatpieces of fabric and joining these portions by intermeshing stitches ofthese portions as they are formed with stitches of the shoulder regions.8. A method as claimed in claim 6, including the step of joining theextensions of the shoulder regions to the front and rear upper bodyportions by intermeshing stitches of the extensions, as they are formed,with stitches at the upper edges of the body portions.
 9. A method asclaimed in claim 8, including the step of knitting each extension as aseries of U-shaped courses, each end of each of these courses beingjoined to the end of a wale of one of the upper body portions.
 10. Amethod as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least part of each of the saidfront and rear upper body panels is shaped by knitting each successivecourse of the said part shorter than the preceding course.